Page:The American Cyclopædia (1879) Volume IX.djvu/860

 840 KINGFISHER KINGLAKE throughout North America ; the length is about 13 in. and the extent of wings 22 ; the head has a long crest; the color is blue above, with- out metallic lustre ; a concealed band across the back of the head, a spot before the eye, and the lower parts white ; a band across the breast, and the sides under the wings, blue like the back ; primaries white on the basal half ; tail transversely banded and spotted with white. In the young birds there is a light chestnut band on the breast below the blue one, which last is more or less tinged with chestnut. Speci- mens from the Pacific coast are considerably the largest. It is a constant resident in the southern states ; its flight is rapid, and it often suddenly stops like a sparrow hawk and hovers over the water, dashing headlong after its prey, which it carries to the nearest stump or tree and swallows instantly. It follows the course of rivers even to the cascades of their sources, and its presence near a stream is good evidence to the angler that fish are there abundant ; it is fond of resorting to mill ponds, where the stillness of the water enables it easily to de- tect its prey. Its notes are very sharp, rapid, and rattling. The nests are made in holes dug to the horizontal depth of from 4 to 6 ft. in a bank, the entrance being just large enough to admit a bird, and the end rounded like an oven ; the eggs are generally six, and pure white, and incubation lasts about 16 days, be- ing performed by both parents ; the eggs are considered good eating, though the flesh of the bird is fishy and tough. According to Audu- bon, this bird occasionally plunges into the sea after small fry. The subfamily of halcyonina or kinghunters have the aspect and general habits of kingfishers, from which they differ principally in the broader and stouter bill. The genus dacelo (Leach) is found in Austra- lia and Papua; the species are not shy, and one, the D. gigas (Bodd.), is 18 in. long ; they go into the woods, and feed indiscriminate- ly on any animals of suitable size, whether quadruped, bird, reptile, fish, insect, or crus- tacean ; the colors are handsome, and the flight quick and noiseless; their powerful bills ren- der them formidable, and they can successful- ly resist the smaller birds of prey ; some of the species have a peculiar screaming laugh at sunrise and sunset, which has caused the name of " laughing jackass " to be given to them in Australia. The genus halcyon (Swains.), with about 50 species, inhabits Africa, Australia, India and its archipelago, and the South sea islands ; some of these birds are very hand- some, green, and blue predominating; they build their nest in the hollow trunks of trees. KING GEORGE, an E. county of Virginia, bounded N. and E. by the Potomac river and S. by the Rappahannock ; area, 176 sq. m. ; pop. in 1870, 5,472, of whom 2,812 were colored. The surface and soil are both diversified. The chief productions in 1870 were 34,463 bushels of wheat, 144,807 of Indian corn, 11,652 of oats, and 29,322 Ibs. of butter. There were 843 horses, 2,706 cattle, and 2,440 swine. Capital, King George Court House. KINGLAKE. I. Alexander William, an English author, born in Taunton in 1802. He was educated at Eton and at Trinity college, Cam- bridge, was called to the bar in 1837, and in a few years acquired an extensive chancery practice in London. Not long after his ad- mission to the bar he made an extensive tour in the East, of which he wrote home many graphic descriptions. Upon his return to Eng- land he was induced to revise his letters for publication ; but having attempted in vain to find a publisher, he threw the manuscript aside, and for some years thought no more upon the subject. Happening one day to be conversing with a publisher on the recent appearance of a book of travels, he offered to give him his manuscript if he would print it. The offer was accepted, and the work, published under the title of "Eothen" (1844), was universally pronounced one of the freshest and most enter- taining books of travel of the day. In 1857 he was returned to parliament for the borough of Bridgewater, and in 1860 took an active part in denouncing the annexation of Nice to the French empire. In 1868 he was again returned for Bridgewater, but was unseated on petition. After " Eothen " he published noth- ing, except an article in the " Quarterly Re- view " on the political uses of the Mediterra- nean, till 1863, when the first two volumes of his history of "The Invasion of the Crimea" appeared ; two more volumes were published in 1868, and a fifth in 1874, bringing the his- tory down to and including the battle of Inker- man, the work being still unfinished. II. John Alexander, an English lawyer, cousin of the pre- ceding, born in Taunton in 1805, died in Lon- don, July 11, 1870. He was educated at Eton and Cambridge, was called to the bar in 1830, made a sergeant at law in 1844, and appointed recorder of Exeter, and in 1856 of Bristol. For many years he was a member of parliament for Rochester, and an extreme liberal in politics, being in favor of the vote by ballot, the aboli- tion of church rates, and other popular mea- sures. He contributed articles to the reviews, and the authorship of "Eothen" has frequently been erroneously attributed to him. 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